Power MOSFETs (metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistors (FET)) are used as electric switches for high frequency PWM (pulse width modulation) applications such as voltage regulators and/or as load switches in power applications. When used as load switches, where switching times are usually long, cost, size and on-resistance of the switches are the prevailing design considerations. When used in PWM applications, the transistors must exhibit small power loss during switching, which imposes an additional requirement—small internal capacitances—that make the MOSFET design challenging and often times more expensive. Special attention has been paid to the Gate-to-Drain (Cgd) capacitance, as this capacitance determines the voltage transient time during switching and is the most important parameter affecting the switching power loss.
Prior art laterally diffused MOSFET (LDMOS) devices use thick epitaxial layers to achieve high breakdown voltage (>60V) required for the target RF applications. To minimize the parasitic source inductance in the assembly, devices are designed on P+ substrates leading the source electrode to the back side of the die. The thick epitaxial layer and P+ substrate result in a high on resistance (Rds,on) of the device, which is not acceptable for power management applications. Also, both device concepts lead to a stripe layout of the drain electrode. This in turn leads to a de-biasing effect known for lateral devices (voltage drop along a stripe electrode under high current conditions) and limits the current handling capability of the transistor. Further, the shield gate tends to be laterally constrained to the space between the gate and the drain electrodes and is applicable only to a stripe layout of the drain electrode.
There remains a need, therefore, for an LDMOS structure with improved device performance (Rds,on and Cgd) as well as improved manufacturability.